Dental clasp



R. v. WILLIAMS,

D ENTAL CLASP. APPLICATION FILED NOV-23, I920.

Patented Ap 1 22 fizvenfaij y M I REGINALD v. WILLIAMS, OFYBUIFIEA'LO, 'lvnwyon z.

DENTAL ,QLASP.

Specification of Patent. PgttQiltGd Ap l. 1'1

Application filed November aa eeo. Serial n; ag

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REGINALD. V. l/VIL- LIAMS, a citizenof the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new an usefulimprovements in Dental: Clasps, of; V, M j I plate-or soldered to' the bridgework' For which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the clasps .employedfor removably securing dental plates or bridgework tolnatural teeth.

l-leret-ofore such clasps have been cast in one piece of a suitable alloy, or made of several pieces secured together by hand-soldering. Cast clasps are undesirable, because their parts cannot be bent or reversed to form a right or left clasp without cracking or breaking them. Soldered, multi-piece clasps require considerable time to make and adjust them and also incur waste of material The spurs and occlusal rests of such clasps are also liable to break off, and the seams or oints form projecting edges or shoulders on which foreign matter lodges, rendering the clasps unsanitary. The soldering operation, moreover, draws the temper from the metal to a greater or less extent, impairing the resilience of the clasp and weakening its grip on the tooth.

The chief object of my invention is the provision of a dental clasp which is sufficiently stiff and resilient to reliably retain its shape and grip and yet strong and flexible enough to permit bending or refitting of the clasp, if required, without liability of breakage. j

Further objects are to provide a neat, ready-made clasp which requires no solders ing and therefore effects a material saving in time and material, which is smooth, seamless and sanitary and whose parts can be readily and safely reversed to produce either a right or a left clasp, as desired.

' In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pan- 0f dental plates provided with the improved clasps. Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of a fragment of one of the plates, on an en= larged scale. Figure 3 is an exaggerated perspective View of the clasp. Figure 4 is an inverted perspective View thereof. F igure 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the clasp is formed.

Similar charactersof reference indicate rresp d n Parts mena e h s v views.

The clasp comprises the customary band 10 which embraces the tooth, and the offset spur ll which is embedded in the dental molars and bicuspi ds, thecla'sp has the usual lugor occlusal rest 12, which is sometimes not used ,for cuspid's. To more securely anchor the 'spur in place, it"is preferably 7 provided with transverse ribs or corruga tions13 and it may also be stiffened by a longitudinal rib 14:;

The entire clasp, including" the occlusal rest, if used, is formed in a single piece from a flat blank of sheet metal, of the shape shown in Fig. 5, or approximately so. This blank comprises a slightly bowed bar 10 adapted to form the curved band of. the clasp; a short tongue 12 projecting centrally from the concave edge of said bar and adapt ed to form the rest 12, and a relatively long tongue ll projecting in the opposite direction from the convex edge of said bar and offset with reference to said central tongue, this long tongue forming the spur of the completed clasp. This blank is stamped from any suitable metal or alloy, preferably an alloy of gold and platinum having the requisite stiffness and elasticity to enable the clasp to retain its form and tightly grip a tooth, while possessing suflicient strength and flexibility to permit the clasp to be repeatedly bent without breaking any of its parts, in refitting or readjusting the clasp.

To make a sectional or multi-piece clasp by hand requires about half an hour. By the use of this improved integral ready-made portant item of'time, but also a considerable amount of material, because there is no waste. Such unsoldered, one-piece. clasps are further'economical in that they require less platinum; hen gold-islsoldered ,to

gold, it is necessary to use a larger percent-' age of platinum or high-content platinum alloy to withstand the high degree of heat required to solder the spur and the occlusal rest to the band.

Cast clasps, moreover, entail loss of gold,

to the teeth, the resulting gold dust floating in the air and finally dropping on the floor, thus largely going to waste. No such loss is incurred in the manufacture and use of the improved clasp, because it requires no grinding but can be accurately fitted or adjusted by simply bending its parts.

Unlike a cast or soldered multipiece clasp, the band can be reversely curved or bent in either direction and the spur and the rest bent or reversed accordingly, to make either a right or a left clasp without danger of breakage, thus requiring only one set of dies for stamping both kinds.

As the parts of the clasp are not subjected to a soldering or heating operation of any kind, they retain their original temper and resilience.

While combining the necessary resilience and strength, the clasp is smooth and seamless, rendering it comfortable to the wearer, as well as sanitary since it presents no raised edges or lodging places for particles of food.

The clasp is sold in flat or blank form and made in several sizes to fit difierent teeth.

In the drawings, the band is shown fiatsided, but it may be of round, half-round, oval or any other suitable cross section.

I claim as my invention:

1. A one-piece dental clasp having an occlusal rest and stamped from a fiat sheet metal blank comprising a bowed bar and a comparatively short tongue projecting 

